For some, Douglas Adams is just the guy who wrote that weird book about towels, the Universe and everything else, but a few might know him for what he really is: a great sci-fi writer, working on several episodes of Doctor Who and, of course, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. In Dirk Gently, we get to see, as described by the author “a kind of ghost-horror-detective-time-travel-romantic-comedy-epic, mainly concerned with mud, music and quantum mechanics”. It basicly sums up the idea behind the plot that […]
Better than the first one; still not as good as Hitchhiker
This is not really a sequel, as it has nothing at all to do with the first Dirk Gently book. This is a totally new adventure: one that makes slightly more sense than the first one, but still isn’t as good as the Hitchhiker series. That seems unfair, though – what could possibly be as good as Hitchhiker? Kate is an American living in London who becomes embroiled with a large blond man who claims to be Thor. Why Thor takes a shine to her […]
Fundamental Interconnectedness of high school flashbacks
I decided to reread this before the BBC show started, which turned out to be totally unnecessary. I thoroughly enjoyed the first episode of the show, but it has nothing to do with the book, except for one line about the “fundamental interconnectedness of all things,” and maybe some passing references to pizza and Thor. Still gonna watch, still gonna enjoy the book. Dirk Gently doesn’t actually show up in his own book until page 85, and then he disappears again for a while. This […]
“To summarize the summary of the summary: people are a problem.”
After discovering that I had not, in fact, read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy I rectified that this year, and giving the audiobook version a spin I was excited. The story I was familiar with came alive and Stephen Fry was simply delightful as the narrator. I was so enthralled that I immediately downloaded the second book in the series The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, from Audible without thinking much about it. After finishing Pronto I decided to revisit the satirical […]
“Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.”
I swear I thought I read this book, I have not. I really honestly and truly do not know how a story I know so well, with lines I quote all the time, could have snuck past me. I blame the movie. And the television show. And pop culture? I don’t know. But this has all been solved because now I have read it. Or Stephen Fry read it to me and it was delightful. For anyone else who may have missed this one, here’s […]
Don’t Panic
I have read this book so many times. I’ve also listened to the audiobook quite a bit — when I was in middle school, I duped myself a copy from the library, and used to listen to it at night and fall asleep to it. As a result, I have massive amounts of it memorized, although I tend to remember some bits more than others (probably the parts at the beginnings of each tape). I haven’t listened to it or re-read it in a while though, so […]